Let's Talk -- Movie Posters

Written by Federico D.

I remember the first time I saw this poster. It was the first time I sharted on myself as a teenager.

I always marvel at the way red and black complement each other, but not every artists uses it right like its used in this poster. The shape of the key hole indicates entering the house, but it also makes you wonder why you would even go in there, especially with the red creep staring at you through it like “You’re dead even for looking in here.” I remember that the world really started receiving a lot of simple yet powerful posters around this time in horror. This one stood out alongside a select few.

On the other hand, maybe only to my eye, the white mark in the dead’s eye throws me off sometimes. However, I do see how dull the picture would be without it. Plus it visually carries you from the text at the top to the text at the bottom, but I get a “who put a smudge on my picture” feeling whenever I see it. Maybe it’s just me. Speaking of the text at the top, “You won’t last the night.” I rehearsed that sentence in my mind the entire day before I saw the movie.

I went over this with my wife and we both agree. The hair in the left hand and the knife in the right and even the blood on the ground are quite menacing, but the guys bulge just stands out more than anything. Sometimes, it seems like that is what is really saying, “I warned you not to go out tonight.”

Nevertheless, I love the artwork. I know that hand drawn art was mainly used for movie posters around the late 70s and 80s. I think that it worked for the time period; however, use of it now doesn’t typically work for the masses. I know the new Maniac movie with Elijah Wood had various posters, one of which included a hand drawn art. I loved the artwork of all the versions, but I see what carried over more for promotional purposes. Still, this 1980 poster expresses to me another golden era of cinema and the evolution from that era. It showcases the beautiful artistry that not everyone possesses while evoking a dark undertone with content and shadows. You witness the disgust of this man with the simple unbuttoning of his shirt, and the sloppiness of the blood spatter, leading you to question how could he ever get away with killing people, yet alone one person. Then again, his overall appearance lets you know that a maniac is not always easy to spot in a crowd.

What did you guys think about the House of the Dead and Maniac movie posters

 when you first saw them? 

Let me know what movie posters stood out to you guys?

We’ll be posting on more real soon.